Unisys Corporation, owner of the patent for GIF technology, is asking
for a FIVE THOUSAND DOLLAR license fee from Web authors who use GIF
files on their sites. We think this is outrageous. We want to send a
message to Unisys and other big companies that the Internet can't be
held hostage by proprietary standards and file formats. We're going to
hold a LIVE PROTEST on November 5th at the Bay Area headquarters for
Unisys raise awareness about creative freedom on the Web and to help
people become aware of open options to closed-minded corporate
computing.

WHO WE ARE:

Burn All GIFs is a project of the League for Programming Freedom
(http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/). We're a group of Web makers and software
creators who are concerned about everyone's right to make and use
software without having to walk through the minefield of patent
litigation. We want to end the burden of the LZW patent (the
underlying technology for GIF files) by moving the Web away from GIF
to other, more open standards (like JPEG and PNG).

WHAT WE'RE DOING:

As a group, we're not concentrating on convincing Unisys to drop its
ridiculous licensing schemes for GIF. This hasn't worked in the past,
and we don't expect it to work now. Instead, we want to make GIF files
IRRELEVANT for modern life on the Web. To this purpose, we're:

* Encouraging the use of the Portable Network Graphics format (PNG
or "ping"), the W3 standard for Web graphics
(http://www.w3.org/Graphics/PNG/) as an alternative to GIF

* Writing and distributing software for converting GIF files to
PNG, including web2png, a utility that can convert an entire Web
site from GIF to PNG in minutes

* Spreading the word about why GIF is lame to the media, on the
Web, and in live protests

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

* Come to Burn All GIFs Day! (directions below) It's going to be a
good time with interesting and creative people using the power of
a crazy scheme to draw attention to an important issue.

* Look into PNG as an alternative to GIF for your Web site. It's
supported by both major browsers, it's an excellent image format,
and it's just full of all kinds of good karma. With the tools you
can find at http://burnallgifs.org/ and elsewhere, it's real easy
to clean your Web site of GIF technology.

* Fly the "Burn All GIFs" banner on your site, to show that you're
not using GIFs any more.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, we'll be converging on the Brisbane
offices of Unisys Corporation at 5PM on November 5th, 1999. The
meeting point will be on the public trail facing Pier 5 of the
Brisbane Marina, near Unisys. Directions to the site can be found at:

[Other regional groups will also be meeting at their regional Unisys
headquarters; see the burnallgifs.org site for details.] We'll have
GIF conversion software and other cool stuff to pass out to
people. Bring your least favorite GIF file on floppy or paper to
symbolically "burn" at the home of GIF.

MORE INFORMATION:

More information about the GIF controversy, Burn All GIFs, links to
recent media articles about GIF, patent problems, and software freedom
can be found at this URL: